Catcher Chris Iannetta is welcomed home by Ian Stewart after his solo home run against the New York Mets Monday night at Coors Field.

Rockies manager Jim Tracy says Chris Iannetta is a ‚Äúnew guy.‚Äô‚Äô Which is to say, he‚Äôs the same guy through good times and bad.

That wasn‚Äôt the case in Iannetta‚Äôs early years in a Rockies uniform. ‚ÄúHe couldn‚Äôt get out of his own way,‚Äô‚Äô is how Iannetta‚Äôs close friend, Rockies pitcher Jason Hammel, described Iannetta‚Äôs mental struggles during tough times.

Maybe it took all that failure to finally produce some success. After an offseason in which the Rockies tried to sign Yorvit Torrealba to be the No. 1 catcher, Iannetta decided he had to go with the flow. And he felt more strongly about it after Torrealba signed with the Rangers, handing Iannetta the starting job by default.

Funny how these things work. Iannetta‚Äôs seventh-inning home run off Chris Capuano gave the Rockies a 2-1 win over the Mets tonight at Coors Field. Earlier in the game, he doubled and scored the first run.

So it‚Äôs official then. Iannetta, a human punching bag to many Rockies fans, is on a roll. He hit .182 in April. Since making some mechanical adjustments at the plate, he has carried the Rockies in early May. He‚Äôs hitting .409 (9-for-22) this month, lifting his batting average to .247. He has homered in each of the Rockies‚Äô last three wins.

‚ÄúThe thing is not pressing, knowing I‚Äôm going to be back out there offensively and defensively,‚Äô‚Äô said Iannetta, when asked to pinpoint the difference between his 2010 and 2011 seasons. ‚ÄúI‚Äôve allowed myself to go through the process of making adjustments, as opposed to trying to force some adjustments in the video room and in the cage or batting practice and trying to get five hits in one at-bat.‚Äô‚Äô

Hammel, who lives near Iannetta in Rhode Island, could see the difference in his offseason workout partner before the two arrived at spring training.

‚ÄúHe‚Äôs not taking it as hard on himself when he doesn‚Äôt get the job done,‚Äô‚Äô said Hammel. ‚ÄúHe‚Äôs gone from trying so hard to where he‚Äôs like, ‚ÄėYou know what? Screw this. It didn‚Äôt happen today so move on to the next day.‚Äô It‚Äôs fun to watch.‚Äô‚Äô

Other news and notes from the Rockies‚Äô win:

Dexter Fowler drove in Iannetta and walked twice, improving his career-best on-base percentage to .382. He‚Äôs on pace for 113 walks, which would obliterate his career high of 67. Now for the flip side: He leads the National League with 41 strikeouts.

Jhoulys Chacin allowed two hits for the second straight start, but left after allowing one run in six innings. Chacin threw 107 pitches, 52 of which were balls. He credited Iannetta for calling a game that kept Mets hitters off balance even though they were in favorable counts for much of the night.

Chacin lowered his ERA to a staff-leading 2.49, which will leave him in the top 10 in the league. Hammel is next at 2.63, followed by Jorge De La Rosa at 3.14. Impossible as it seems, Rockies starters compiled a 2.37 ERA during the team‚Äôs 1-5 road trip to Arizona and San Francisco.

The game was the first in a stretch in which the Rockies will play 15 out of 20 games at home. They‚Äôre 8-6 at Coors Field, where they‚Äôve hit .242.

Carlos Gonzalez, who hit 26 home runs at Coors Field in 2010, has yet to homer there this season. CarGo has three RBIs at home after piling 76 last season.

The Rockies are 19-14, leaving them 1 ¬Ĺ games ahead of the Giants in the N.L. West. Now for the numbers within the numbers: They‚Äôre 14-6 vs. the N.L. Central and East, but 5-8 within their own division.

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle ‚ÄúRocktober‚ÄĚ in 2007 and also following the team‚Äôs playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.